野兽
yě shoù · HSK 7
wild animal
🦁 野 wild + 兽 beast = wild animal; the untamed creature, not the zoo kind
野 means wild or open field, and 兽 means a four-legged beast. Stack them and you get 野兽, an animal that lives wild rather than tame. Sound-alike anchor: yě shòu echoes yeah, shoo away that beast.
野 — 里 (village) + 予 (phonetic)
Originally written 埜 (forest 林 over earth 土), depicting wild land beyond cultivated fields. The modern form 野 combines 里 (village/settled land) with 予 as a phonetic component, keeping the meaning of open country, wilderness, or untamed.